Give Me Someone To Believe In
by Finalfantasyguy
Summary: SOLDIER was where he was going to make it, he was going to be something as a SOLDIER, and he wasn't about to let anything distract him, except, perhaps, a certain obnoxious boy. Yaoi, humor, angst CloudxZack
1. Too Loud, Too Quiet

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own FF7, I tried but it is not possible, I don't have enough money, yet. so don't sue me!

Careful this is a YAOI, meaning there will be stuff going on between Cloud and Zack. Let that seek in for a minute. I warned you, this is also an AU, meaning none of this took place. I will however try not ruin everything and I will try to make the characters seems as IC as best as I can.

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**Too Quiet, Too Loud**

"Keep moving fat boy! You won't last this last week if that's all you got! Your falling behind you fat ass! You make me sick…" The sergeant yelled at Wedge, as he slips and falls face first in the mud. Cloud sighs seeing his partner and roommate get putdown like that from the Sergeant. The Sergeant took humor at yelling at the largest guy in the squad, hoping to break him. Wedge slowly picks himself up out of the mud, as he stands up; he continues to run forward trying to catch up with his squad only to fall behind at a slower rate. Cloud sighs at seeing the sight of it, he falls behind to move with his partner, "Come on, don't let the asshole get to you, we're almost done, just a few more miles." He understood the frustration Wedge was going through, as he goes through much the same, being one of the smallest kids' in the squad, if it weren't for that he probably would have ignored Wedge getting yelled at. The sergeant smirks at Cloud," We don't have room for girls, move along, I am dealing with Twinkie, or would you like to be doing push-ups for the rest of the day?" It was a nickname that Sergeant Okunawa gave him on the first day of training when he couldn't complete the rope climb; Wedge was humiliated in front of the whole squad. "No, Sir." He responds glaring at the Sergeant, receiving a smirk in return. Glaring coldly at the Sergeant, Cloud turns and runs ahead, catching up with the squad.

They had been running all day, jumping over logs, running up hills, through swamps, and in the forest, all twenty miles of it, with three more to go. Cloud was exhausted he had only two hours of sleep the night before, he hated guard duty almost more then anything, and he had guard duty more then anyone else. Of course, this was all a test, to see who could handle being shipped down to Midgar to start the real training, to become a SOLDIER. One more week of this bullshit and he could start the training. He was going to prove the people he grew up with, wrong, he was something.

Three months ago he left his home in Nibelheim, to become a First-Class SOLDIER like General Sephiroth, the leader of all the SOLDIERS. He left because he wasn't welcome at his hometown; none of the kids liked him. He had tried to talk to them but they would just shut him off. Only Tifa was nice to him even though she didn't talk to him, she was a year younger then him at fifteen. He remembered when he tried to save her from falling of a bridge that put her in a two week coma; the town blamed what happened to her, on him. Saying she never acted so careless until she started talking to him, the only thing was, she never talked to him. All the guys would beat him up, calling him useless, a nobody. His mother loved him, but there was only so much she could do to help him, ever since his father died she wasn't quite herself. He had to leave the town, not only for himself but to lighten the burden on his mother, and to get away from the kids that he once tried to get to know.

Later that afternoon when he finished running they started their fighting techniques, as if he wasn't tired enough. Sergeant Okianda was tougher then Sergeant Okunawa, however he didn't single out any individual, "Attention, bitches. Today is the beginning of the worst week of your lives; the men will be separated from the ladies." The Sergeant smirks, very cliché, Cloud thinks to himself. The sergeant pulls out a clip board from a table in the large plain gym. The gym had a simple wood floor with blue mats all over, and plain, light brown walls with a high ceiling. The sergeant scrolls down the list of names, he was a tall muscular man with piercing blue mako eyes, he was pale white and was taller then any other of the new recruits, and he wore a professional suit. "Recruit Danik, Recruit Forrest, step forward." He says with the utmost calm, his face unreadable, they both took a step forward out of the line. "You two are roommates; I assume you two are probably friends?" Neither of them moved, he smirks again, "You two will spar each other, the loser will pack his bags and go home. You will use everything I taught you." Their eyes widened at hearing the news, causing the Sergeant to openly grin, "Let's see," he says to himself, "Recruit Trona, Recruit Gordy, you two will spar, same rules, loser goes home." He slowly says the list on the clip board turning the pages.

"Recruit Strife," Cloud turns his head towards the Sergeant, drawn from his thoughts, "Recruit Henry, Step forward. You two will spar, loser goes home, and you will use everything I taught you, so far." He continues reading the list of names. Cloud looks at his only friend, or about as close as a friend he has had, they both knew who was going to lose, and pack their bags. "Hey, Cloud," Wedge speaks slowly, "It was nice meeting you, maybe we can meet up after you're done with training, and have become a SOLDIER." Probably not, Cloud thinks to himself, probably won't see anyone outside SOLDIER after training, "Maybe," he only says. They steps onto the mats placed in front of them, "You will begin when I say so; your opponent loses when he steps off of the mat, falls down or taps out. Start!" He shouts.

Cloud was blurred out to anything but his opponent, Wedge, so much for staying to the end. Cloud was quick to reach Wedge who was ready for him. Wedge quickly grabs at him but Cloud was quick to move and sides step out of the way, kicking Wedge in the ribs. Wedge was smart but he was also slow, Cloud too was also smart, and was more ambitious with his goals then any of these other recruits, he was not going to lose. Wedge didn't seemed fazed by the kick and turns swinging a fist at Cloud, who barely blocks the heavy blow at his head, he won't go down easy, Cloud thinks to himself. He jumps over the large boys head landing right behind him on the edge of the mat and swinging his leg sideways, Wedge jumps over his kick, he was used to being tripped by that simple move. Cloud anticipated Wedge jumping over his foot and stops his sweep kick and swings his other leg over while jumping spinning his body horizontally, just hitting Wedges' leg knocking him down on the ground, Cloud landing back on his two feet and smiles down at his partner, offering a hand to pick him up, "it was nice meeting you, Wedge, hope you do good in what you want. Maybe you will try to be a SOLDIER again?" He wasn't very good at being nice, but he tried. Wedge takes his hand and shakes his head at Cloud, "it was nice to meet you too. I don't plan to try out to be a recruit for SOLDIER again; I don't think my mind will endure all of this. But I think you will go far in SOLDIER, you have skill and intelligence."

The Sergeant, seeing who was first to lose shouts, "Henry, pack your bags, your train leaves tonight! We don't have time for the weak, only the best!" Damn, that asshole was heartless, no time to say goodbye, Cloud glares at the sergeant who smirks at him, "Don't think it will be easier for you just because you are near the end, six more days are still left after this, quitting will look much nicer after each falling hour, trust me." He turns watching the other young recruits, "Scott, pack your bags your train leaves tonight, we don't have time for the likes of you." This guy was much worse then Sergeant Okunawa, Cloud realizes.

Almost everyone ate in silence, seems a lot of these people had to spar their friends and family who entered at the same time, and chose to be roommates. It was definitely time to buckle down; the next week is going to be very hard. Of course, this is what he has been waiting for, this week; he was going to do his best, prove he is SOLDIER material. At least he will have a room to himself, no one to distract or annoy him; this may not be so bad after all.

He left for his room, to his dismay, finds that someone has already moved in, he was a tall boy about his age, with dark long spiky hair, like his, if not so long, he had a slight frame, like Cloud's if a little taller, he had violet eyes that seemed to shout loud obnoxious kid all over it, if his big grin wasn't clear enough, "Hey, I'm Zack what's your name?" he said in an all too cheerful voice, shit, Cloud thinks to himself. Cloud climbs up to his bed on the top bunk, ignoring the kids' question, but it seemed to no avail, as the annoying kid looks at him on his bunk, "Since you have no name, I think you need a nick name, hmm, how about..." Cloud, realizing this won't turn out good for him, at all, says, "Cloud," Zack continues to grin like a dork, "Cloud, huh? Nice to meet you, having fun in training so far, I guess it is going to be really difficult this last week. I'm surprised I made it, I barely won my last match; the guy was a real dick I thought I would have lost for sure." He pauses and looks at Cloud more thoughtfully, "Seems like your quiet, oh well, don't worry, I will make up for the both of us!" Great! Cloud thinks to himself, just what I need, someone who doesn't know how to shut up! Cloud turns over on his side making his back face the obnoxious kid. Maybe that will keep him quiet, Cloud thinks to himself.

Zack sensing the mood his new roommate was in decided against it to tell him they were going to be roommates at Midgar, too. The people who were forced to move to a different room with someone were told that already. He chose Cloud Strife because he saw that he helped his roommate, Recruit Henry, on the twenty mile run, or at least encourage until Sergeant Asshole said otherwise. He thought maybe living with a guy like that wouldn't be too bad, but, seeing how he is pretty much antisocial it might have been a bad choice, a really bad choice, of course he could be sad that his old roommate had to leave. He will have to hope Cloud won't be so closed up with all those barriers preventing anyone from getting to know him. This might prove to be a very long year.

This room was just a bit bigger then his last, or maybe it was just the way the room was set up. The tight quarter's room was small with a bunk against the far corner from the door; there was a small window on right next to the bed showing the solid concrete walls that surrounded the training camp, with barb wire on the top of the walls. Mud was coating the grounds that were within the walls, not a spot of grass was to be seen within the walls, just heavy, thick mud. On the other side of the window were two dressers, one was his the other was Cloud's, there was a very narrow walking space between dressers and the bunk bed, the walls were an ugly tan and the so called carpet was gray, nothing worth while, he was miserable. So much for having a talkative roommate, at least it's better then having someone who enjoys fighting and, of course, Cloud wasn't hard to look at, in fact, he was kind of cute, dare he think it. Smiling, Zack slowly drifted off to sleep.

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this is my VERY first FIC, please Review i need the encouragement. I will try to keep this updated. Please tell me if the spacing is to difficult to read I will try to better it or make the paragraphs shorter. Please I need to hear what you think of my story, are my characters anywhere near IC, what? Please R&R! I will make cookies for my first reviewer, maybe my second, hell, I'll make some for anyone who asks nicely! xD Ciao!


	2. Oh! I forgot to tell you

Disclaimer: I do not own Final fantasy or anything to do with the series, however everything that isn't Fianl Fantasy related is mine! this is a yaoi, meaning males will love males, deep concept let it sink in.-----------

**Oh! I forgot to tell you**

The next morning came early, as the same, loud, buzz from Cloud's alarm clock wakes him up. He had bought it from the camp, it had never failed to wake him, no doubt he was the only person who used an alarm on his own, and not woken up by the yelling Drill Sergeants. Something he experienced once, and decided he would never deal with that shit again, and bought an alarm for himself. At least, with it he had time to shower by himself and eat breakfast alone, in the quiet.

He sits up, feeling his aching body protest, ignoring all the aches and pains, he jumps down from his bunk and lands quietly on his feet, hoping not to wake his new roommate, either out of respect, or not to hear his annoying voice, who knew. He glances at the slightly older kid in front of him, still sleeping calmly, his pale thin lips formed a smile on his face, he had jet-black hair that naturally spiked like his, and a small nose, which let out a small whistle. Turning back to his own drawer, he grabs a towel, some deodorant, shampoo and some loose fitting sweats, as he walks to the dreaded public showers.

Shedding all his clothes off his pale, slender body, he folds them on the closest bench to the showers and grabs his shampoo. He walks to the farthest shower in the far corner and turns it on full hot water, which is really just cold water, which was little better then freezing. Shivering under the cold water pouring down his slender form, he tries to relax as best as he could, trying to enjoy his most relaxing part of the day, next to sleeping. Closing his eyes, he gets used to the water pouring down on him, and he thinks about one of the times he had played with his dad.

"Come on, Cloud! You almost had it, let's try once more." His dad had said to him when he was six years old. He was a tall man, probably thirty-five years old, he had light brown hair that was only starting to thin out, his piercing blue grey eyes seemed to leave you bare, his large nose seemed to fit well with his face, he always held a smile around his son, Cloud couldn't remember ever seeing his dad frown or yell. He had a large frame; he was easily six feet tall and covered in muscles, something Cloud lacked. He always seemed to have a commanding presence, wherever he went. "Okay, let's try a little different approach," he said with a laugh, seeing his son unsuccessfully swing his fathers' sword. The thing was easily twice Clouds' size and weight. He remembers, despite his poor efforts, his father still looked proud of him. Cloud, sighing, nodded, his eyes starting to water up, "I can't swing it dad, I'm sorry, I'm too weak to do this." Seeing a tear fall down his cheek, his dad quickly walks toward his son, picking him up at eye level, "Its okay bud, I didn't think you were even going to pick the big sucker up, you amazed me by just doing that. You have done a wonderful job, I am so proud of you." Cloud giggled at hearing such a compliment from his father.

Snapping from his thoughts he hears someone behind him as another shower is turned on. Squirting the shampoo in his hand he rubs it quickly into his long hair that was already matted down by the water. Rinsing it all out, he shuts the shower off, and steps out into the main locker room. Shivering, for all the windows were open, allowing air to rush through the room. Drying his body and hair off with his towel, he puts on his sweats and runs his hands through his hair, quickly combing it as he rushes to his room to change into his training gear. It would be bad news for him if he was caught wearing anything else, he knows first hand.

Entering into his dorm room, he notices that his roommate is still soundly asleep, thankfully. He looks up at his clock, it was only twenty minutes after five, strange that someone was up almost as early as he was, probably someone who was on guard duty and decided one hour of rest wasn't worth it, which might prove to be a mistake. Opening his drawer, he grabs the training gear one of the Recruits gave him, on the first day of arrival. Sighing, he throws on the most uncomfortable clothes to exist, and heads towards the cafeteria.

Yes! Still empty, he smiles to himself and grabs a tray to get his food for breakfast. Sitting at some random table, he digs in to his food, eating three nice biscuits with gravy and a large bowl of hot cereal, and an apple, with milk to drink, he may not like talking, but he knew how to eat. Biting into his large juicy green apple, he notices someone in the corner of his eye. Maybe someone was feeling pretty good this morning. Looking more directly at the kid, he sees the boy had silver hair that dropped off at his shoulders and with his eyes the same cold color. He looked like he could be the son of the great General himself! However, that was impossible, it probably would of have been common news for most of the world if General Sephiroth had a son. The kid who was a bit younger looking then Cloud smirked, and headed back to the dorms holding an apple and something else he couldn't tell. He wondered why he had never seen that kid before, he looked like he was used to getting up as early as Cloud. Whoever that kid was, Cloud felt a chill, ripple down his spine. There was something, ominous about him.

As he is finishing his breakfast he sees people starting to enter the cafeteria, all of them stunk of sweat and of sex, very common at the training camp; luckily, he hasn't had to suffer that from any of the guys who couldn't control themselves. Of course, he could understand that not too many people tried to challenge him with someone as big as Wedge, nearby. I hope that, Zack will have control, he thinks to himself. Seeing his roommate walk through the door, at least he was clean, sighs in annoyance for he wasn't finished eating yet.

"Hey Cloud!" he says in his cheerful voice, damn, Cloud thinks, he sounds like a morning person.

"Where were you, when the Sergeant woke me up, you weren't there, guess you were already awake, but damn man, how do you do it?"

Cloud looks into his roommates eyes, seeing if there was any hope in ignoring this kid, but perceiving nothing but stubborn and annoying in them. Seeing his situation as completely hopeless, he concedes and decides to talk, "Simple, I hate the sergeants enough to where I don't want to be anywhere around them, but, sometimes you have to be around them, and morning is a time I don't have to hear their voices." Picking up his empty tray, he walks to the counter and drops it there. Well, at least he didn't have to talk _too_ much.

Zack was too shocked to stop Cloud from leaving the table, he actually talked, more then one word at that! Moreover, he didn't know how to respond, probably, for the first time in his life, he was speechless. He was expecting Cloud to ignore him; maybe he was wrong about Cloud being anti-social. Glancing at his watch, he sees it is almost time to get ready to run laps. Dumping his nearly full tray, he leaves the cafeteria in a rush not to be late.

"Hey…Cloud," he says panting, still worn out from all the running, "How… can you… run like that! You were ahead of everyone, and yesterday you were in back. You look, hardly winded." Cloud shrugs indifferently, causing Zack to shake his head at him. They had run for thirty miles and Cloud was in the lead the whole time, never walking, always, the same fast jog. The Sergeant couldn't even keep up with that fast pace, and Cloud just shrugs, as if it's a no big deal. Zack looks at Cloud again, but like how anyone else would, a too scrawny, short, cute -well not quite like anyone else- kid. Yet, he is still the fastest one in the squad, it didn't add up. Cloud has something motivating him, but, what? That was something Zack was going to have to figure out, later, of course.

He glances back towards Cloud, who was now walking away, "Hey, wait up! I'm not going to let you walk away this time." He hears Cloud sighing loudly, as he runs up next to his side. "You may have caught me off guard at the cafeteria, but that won't happen again." He says with his best grin, it has never failed him; at least it didn't until he met Cloud. Who only flickers his eyes towards it, and shakes his head. At least he got that out of Cloud, which was more then what he got last night. Still grinning, he steps in front of Cloud and walks backwards facing him, "We have enough time to grab something to eat before we start sparring, let's go eat." He says cheerfully. Cloud only groans, and looks away, "Fine." He says quietly.

"Well, you don't have to make it sound like a punishment!" Zack says laughingly as he steps next to Cloud resting his hand on shoulder, who jerks back sending him a threatening glare. Zack let's his hand drop back down to his side, body contact, he thinks to himself, is something I'm going to have to ease Cloud into being comfortable with.

Sitting at the lunch table Zack tries a different approach to get the blonde to talk, "Hey, Cloud, what do you plan to do for your future? I mean, do you plan to stay with Shinra and become a SOLIER, or are you using this training program to help you get another job..?"

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Cloud looks up at Zack, his face blocking his emotions. He won't stop will he? Cloud asks himself. "I plan to stay with Shinra and become a first class SOLDIER, much like the General Sephiroth." He wanted to take those words back; he wanted to be more than Sephiroth. Whether that was possible or not, it didn't matter, he wanted to be more then Sephiroth, to be a hero.

Zack nodded, "Me too, hey maybe we can help each other out then, ya know? So we can both become a First Class SOLDIER? That would be great fun!" Cloud mentally kicked himself.

Of course, Midgar is very big, and that's not excluding the sixty-eight story Shinra building, they will be training in. The odds of them even seeing each other would be very unlikely, only by chance would he see Zack. Cloud let's out a fake sigh of disappointment, "The Shinra building is huge though, I mean the odds of each other seeing one another is…" He stops in mid sentence seeing Zack's stupid grin widen.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, we'll be roommates at Shinra building, too. Isn't this great?" Zack squeals, full of excitement.

Cloud, didn't know what to do, what could he do? He just kept staring at the over excited kid who was bouncing up and down. Why was he doing that? Of course, why should he be so surprised, nothing was ever easy, why should this be? Even as much as living with a normal, human being. Sergeant Okunawa was right about quitting looking nice, even if this isn't close to what he meant.

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"Hey Kadaj! Did you feel that?" he says looking over to his younger brother, "I can't really explain it. I thought I heard a voice." Kadaj looks up at him wearing his usual half smirk.

"Yes, Loz, I heard it, I heard it all too clearly. You know what it said? It said I am your mother; I want you to recover me, leave. That's what it said." He glances at his watch, sparring practice was nearing.

"Are we going to listen to it?" he says in a curious voice.

"I don't know Loz, I have to think, my mother is dead, so I can't just go out and listen to it. We will have to wait and see. Let's head over to the sparring grounds, it's to bad Yazoo had to leave, but I'm not going to give this up, he will have to join next year."

Dumping his tray, Kadaj leaves for the sparring grounds, this mother is going to keep bothering him, it was all too apparent.

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Cloud kicks at Zack and blocks Zacks' kick, with the timing of the whistle, it was an ongoing process, that could last for hours, if the Sergeant wanted it too, already twenty minutes had passed by, and Cloud wanted to explode, but this wasn't going to stop him. Zack had the same determined look on his face; he was an entirely different person during training, very serious.

Hearing the Sergeant yell at ease, Cloud, along with everyone else, collapses to the ground, today was by far the toughest day he has gone through, with more reasons then one. Catching his breath Cloud stands up and prepares for the next set of kicks, but they didn't come. He looks around the room and sees that he is the only one who is standing up, that was very strange, even the Sergeant gave him a look of surprise. "Strife! I commend you. Everyone I expect you to work as hard as him, return to your rooms."

Cloud leaves the gym first, to go take a shower; it looks like he wasn't going to have to be on guard duty, two nights in a roll! He was feeling pretty good, a compliment, and no guard duty, ignoring the fact he is going to be stuck with Zack; at least he knew how to keep up, a bit more challenging then Wedge was.

Hearing footsteps rushing towards him he glances ready to fight, someone became very vulnerable when a Sergeant recognized you, jealousy ran strong among the recruits. Seeing it was only Zack, he drops his fists and stops to let him catch up. "Awesome job, Cloud! I don't think I have ever heard him say anything like that to anyone, it is fairly obvious that you should be a SOLDIER when this is all over." Cloud only shrugs. Maybe this last week won't be difficult at all, if this is what the Sergeant planned as difficult.

The whole weeks was much the same, only the miles increased a few each time, and the sparring sessions were _much_ longer, they limited the platoons sleep to one hour a night and food was limited to them. On the very last day they ran sixty miles, only fifteen recruits became Cadets Cloud and Zack one of them. The next day they were to be shipped out to Midgar, where the training was only beginning.

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I'm sorry for the very long wait, and for a short chapter, I will try to make the chapters longer and updates more frequent, I have been trying to keep up with my homewok, and now that I'm caught, I should have a bit more free time, and will use more of it on writing this fic. Please R&R oh I almost forgot, bakes some cookies for Daughters of Night and DarkMiyoko-chan Thanks for being patient with me. Samething goes, I will continue making cookies to reviewers who want them! xD Ciao!


	3. Midgar Effect

**Disclaimer: yaoi, not mine, I don't own, or make any money off of it, so there is my disclaimer, deal with it.**

The elevator doors slide open as First Class SOLDIER General Sephiroth steps out of them leaving for his office, the new recruits were going to be arriving in three days, and he had just received the information for all the soon to be Cadets. He had two hundred thirty recruits, and he had to look over them all and assign them to their classes, their performance in training will determine their teachers, and _he_ was assigned to do this God forsaken job, certainly, the teachers could decide this amongst themselves.

Sitting down at his desk, the General begins to sift through the pages, Alban, Lenny, passed sixty miles in thirteen hours. Average, Sephiroth thinks to himself, his teacher will be Second Class SOLDIER Ryans, Steven. Forrest, Henry, passed sixty miles in nineteen hours. Fatty, Sephiroth smirks, he will have First Class SOLDIER Holmberg, George. If he survives George he deserves to be a SOLDIER.

Finishing the papers of his first training camp, Sephiroth hears a knock at his door. Who is it this time, Sephiroth asks himself annoyed he never liked to be bothered while working. "Enter" he calls out gruffly, a man he wasn't used to seeing walks in to his office, Professor Hojo, he was probably interested in a couple recruits, which he could experiment on.

"You probably know what I'm here for, so I will get to the point," he says quickly, he looked uninterested and bored, "I am curious about a few recruits. Hmm, let me see here I have their names somewhere," he says looking through his folder of papers. Sephiroth himself, was one of the recruits, Hojo was "curious" about, in the end, however, he became SOLDIER's number one General, most weren't so fortunate.

"Ah! Here it is" Hojo says with his usual, bored voice, very little excited him, "Kadaj, hmm, he doesn't seem to have a last name…"

"His mother," Sephiroth begins, "Took him to an orphanage due to her illness, it seems all of their background was lost. Any proof of her existing was lost, for all it mattered; he came out of no where." Sephiroth shrugged, he really didn't care, but Hojo always liked receiving information on future experiments.

The Professor nodded, "The other two recruits, oddly, have the same misfortune, Loz, and Yazoo are _their_ names. If you could just…"

"That last one," Sephiroth interrupts, "Didn't make it through the training; he had lost to a Zack Fahlen, Fahlen of course making it through the basic training."

Squinting at Sephiroth, Professor Hojo adjusts his glasses, "Then send him to my research lab." As the Professor leaves Sephiroth's office, the General let's out a small sigh, very few people are able to give him shivers; Professor Hojo was one of them.

Glancing back down at his papers he picks up the reports of a recruit who is showing signs of a great SOLDIER maybe one of the greatest SOLDIER's to live, Cloud Strife. Hojo should have chosen him as a science experiment, but why didn't he? Maybe he has an affiliation somehow, with Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, but how? There was much more research Sephiroth has left to do, and assigning recruits to teachers, didn't even touch it.

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"Professor Gast, please report to me on how your tests went on the Ancient." Professor Hojo says through the intercom. Yazoo not passing was a small surprise, but it was the last thing on his mind, this Zack Fahlen specimen, might prove to be more useful on his new works of experiments, but the main task is to figure out where the Promised Land is, and only the ancient, the last living Cetra, can tell him.

The sliding doors open to see a tall man with the same white scientist coat, and glasses as Hojo, this man was every bit as ambitious as Hojo, if only, less… adventurous with his experiments. "The Ancient has so far, been going as we planned, even though she doesn't admit it, she has been receiving the dreams…."

Hojo stopped listening to him, it was all according to plan, this will be one experiment that would not, rather, could not, fail. "I think I should run some tests on her. Gast, could you bring it here." It wasn't a question. Grabbing a shot full of hydrochloric, he sets it on a tray full of many other sharp utensils he was going to use on the Ancient. He was going to find out about the dreams, and of the Promised Land, soon.

He looks at the sliding doors hearing them open, he stares at the Ancient walking in, many would think her a normal female girl, however, she wasn't human in anyway, and he knew the difference, her blood.

He smiles at her, "Please come in, all I will do is ask a couple questions, and depending on how you answer them will determine if you leave quickly or after a few hours. Please, sit down." She only shook her head sending quick glances at the door.

He was going to have fun today after all, smiling even wider he says, "Well, then there's no chance of you having any peculiar dreams? No, well, please have a seat then, I insist." A guard walks in grabbing her and strapping her down on the cold metal chair, she was still very young, and easily overpowered.

Without thought, he grabs his shot with the very long syringe and sticks it in her stomach forcing a small amount of the acid in her. She was going to feel it all, he will be sure of that, hearing her scream in outright terror, she writhes with the needle in her, doing more damage to herself then she could understand. Sighing, he takes it out of her, "You don't think I will let you die, do you?" Her face was covered in sweat, and she already exerted most of her energy, she was spent and more vulnerable to his demented tests then she was before the shot. It worked fast putting her in a zombie like state. He was going to have lots of fun, "At this point, I want you to know you had only one chance and you blew it, now I don't care what you say, I'm going to finish my experiments, because now I can't be sure if you are telling the truth or not." She could only stare and scream at him, her eyes wide with terror. Hojo smirks seeing Professor Gast leave, his "morals" told him to leave. For the beauty of science, he could give up his "morals." Also the idea of living eternally helped him throw away an idea of being "moral."

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"Barrett Wallace," Reeve says slowly to the large man, "We are going to need you to switch shifts, resistance is becoming much more frequent, and we need you and your men to help the resistance, "come to their senses." Moreover, you working mornings isn't putting you at your fullest capabilities, the people who we are switching you with aren't as skilled and intimidating as you and your squad are. I hope you don't object to this?" The large black man was startled at seeing Reeve, he didn't see his boss too often, head of securities and leader of the Turks, he was also, you can say, one of the bodyguards of President Shinra.

"Of course boss, you can count on me, those resistin' bastards won't be thinkin' of crossin' arms with Shinra again." He says clamping his right hand to his left breast. He was waiting for this moment, he wasn't expecting this promotion so soon, but the guys will be more then thrilled to hear it, their plan was working perfectly. He wished that Reeve had waited a little longer before giving him the promotion, allowing the resisters to do a little more damage, but it still worked out, he would have to let them know that they needed to stop fighting, he wouldn't have to kill a single one. He turned seeing his boss leave the hall and continued on his patrols.

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Reeve was glad that he had one person who was loyal and true to his word, he had no doubt that Barrett would end the resistance, with little bloodshed, it seemed to be his specialty, even though the man lacked the ability to speak right, he still seemed to have a way with diplomacy.

Reeve shrugged, he had more important matters at hand, his first was addressing Sephiroth about the recruits he was going to help him with them, he knew the man hated the job, and how stressful it was. Next he had to talk to Reno, he had put Reno in charge of bringing in recruits from the city. Reno showed much leader like qualities of a Turk, if only he had more control on his anger, but that could easily be dealt with.

Knocking on the door to Sephiroth's room, he hears an annoyed "Enter" through the other side. Walking into the office, he watches the General stand up and salute him, "More papers, Sir?" he asks respectfully trying to hide his frustration, he was good at hiding his emotions, but Reeve was the best at seeing them, from anyone, he didn't let it bother him when people expressed such emotions, it was only natural.

"No, you may sit back down, I understand you are taking care of the recruits again, if you would like, I could take half of what you have left and finish them up?" He had got along with Sephiroth more then most of the people in Shinra Headquarters; it was a small favor for a... friend.

The general nodded, he looked a bit hesitant, but Sephiroth had grabbed a sheet of a recruit that was set aside, "Take a look at this one, Cloud Strife." He looked slowly over the form of the new recruit, it was indeed note worthy, Hojo must be interested in this one, probably will kill the young man in the end, a true waste.

"Did Hojo come by, asking about the new recruits?" It was normal for him to take a select few to experiment on, as much as his hearts content. The general nodded a look of consternation on his face.

"He is plotting something, he didn't ask for this one, probably doesn't know he exists, instead he asked for three, and one of them didn't even make it, why would he do that? I think he has a connection with them. Could you look into it, and not tell anyone about it?" It was very uncharacteristic of Sephiroth to ask for a favor, especially as something that borders the line of treason. It was law for the people who worked with Shinra to stay out of Professor Hojo's business, no, it _was_ treason! They still both had the same distaste for the man and wanted him out, even if the President had the same goals as the man. Hojo was sick and twisted in the head, who only deserved what he did to his experiments.

"I will look into it." Reeve walks out of the room with half of the recruits and the three Sephiroth had said Hojo showed interest in. Next stop, Reno.

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"Want to make something of it?" The young redheaded Turk shouts, as his new prospect comments on his height, he had never been tall, but for someone to comment on it, meant death. He could be getting smashed with Rude, but the boss _had_ to make him work, it's been like this for the past two months! When was the boss going to let him head in. He has found thirty-two possible recruits and now he has found another, and this one has been nothing but a pain in the ass! He will not recruit another day after this, no matter what Reeve says! Oh did he have a word to give him!

He turns to face the kid with long white hair, he was so strange, but it didn't matter, if only he had kept his mouth shut, Reno would have passed him up. Was the punk kid was smirking at him!? Oh, he was going to teach him a lesson. With one fluid motion, he pulls out his EMR and jumps at the punk, bringing down his electric rod towards his head, though all he got was air. _I missed_! He exclaims to himself, it has been too long since he got to have this type of fun.

Not waiting an instant, he swings his arm holding the EMR and connects to the kids face, with a very audible 'crack' the sound of metal, flesh, and electricity all at once. The kid didn't stand a chance against it as he falls limp, maybe he didn't get to have the fun he wanted. Picking up the unconscious kid over one of his shoulders, he heads for the headquarters to make sure the punk doesn't try to leave town before the training started.

Dropping the kid on the floor next to the bed, Reno leaves the kid in one of the dorm rooms, the guards will make sure he doesn't leave the area then; it was upon his orders that who ever he brought to the dorm rooms stayed in the training area.

It had been a very long day for the redhead and he was ready to get smashed, the best part of the day. His thoughts of the alcohol were soon forgotten as he saw Reeve approaching him down the hall, Dear God, what does he want? Reno asks himself. "Sir!' he says while saluting him, trying to keep his composure intact.

He watched his boss, who could easily see him struggling to keep calm, a;; Reno could do was wait for Reeve to order him to work overtime, or receive some sort of lecture, about him doing a horrible job, or not putting in his full effort. He feels a bead of sweat slowly roll down the side of his cheek, he was very nervous.

Reeve only looked at him sternly showing no emotion, "We have some things to talk about, most of it has to do with your job recruiting and your effort." He knew it, Reeve was always hard on him, it seemed. "Please follow me to my office." Reno started to breathe again finally away from the eyes that seemed to know his every thought. He followed in line behind Reeve looking at his heels. He knew that if he had much more of these talks he may end up fired and jobless, and he couldn't afford that, this day was just getting better by the moment. _Bye bye booze_, he thinks to himself helplessly.

Taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk full of papers, he tries to distract himself from looking at Reeve, fiddling with his zipper, on his black jacket. "So!" reeve says loudly startling Reno, tell me about some of the new recruits you found for SOLDIER." Reno looked at his boss, this time Reno saw it, Reeve was truly enjoying this! Oh, but Reno is not about to be a victim to one of his mind games. He will go along with it for now, though.

Careful not to reveal his newfound information he slowly starts to describe some of his best finds, not bothering to tell how he made them join. He told of his most recent, except about the little fight, and, making him lose consciousness.

An hour had passed when he had finished talking about the recruits. He waited patiently as Reeve seemed to be considering him. Reno shifted in his seat waiting for Reeve to respond, he always took his time when deciding to talk, much like in a game of chess. Reno looked at Reeve one last time, but to his surprise his boss was smiling, "You did well, Reno, far better then I imagined. I am impressed, thirty-three counting today; I think we have more then enough from you. You may have a couple vacation days; I know how stressful that job is. Here is a certificate to express my satisfaction. You are free to leave."

Reno was shocked; he almost didn't hear Reeve offer him the piece of paper, "Thank you, Sir." He grabbed the paper, saluted and left for the door. "One more thing Reno, you have most certainly made my day today," Reeve started laughing as Reno left his office. He was definitely getting smashed today, and the next day, and the next day, wait for Rude to hear about this!

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"Hey Cloud, wake up," The blond slowly opened one eye, while he was stirred out of his sleep,

"Ahah! I told you I was going to wake up before you!" Zack exclaims triumphantly. Cloud only stared at him blankly, he really couldn't care less, Zack seemed to turn everything into a game.

"Better get ready, we have a long couple of days ahead of us ya know, we are leaving for Midgar soon. You know, at first I was shocked about only fifteen people making it through the twelve week program, but, I overheard one of the other guys who made it say, there were over twenty different camps like this around the world, so it will add up." Cloud nodded at him as he was slowly waking up, he still didn't care.

Jumping off his bed Cloud grabs a pair of his clothes and throws them on, "Let's go grab something to eat." He was in a little better mood, since basic camp was finally over. Zack only gave him a lopsided grin. They were the only ones up in the mess hall, excluding the cooks, food was just finished and everything was fresh, it was going to be a good day.

"Hey Cloud!" Zack says enthusiastically, unless, of course, Zack had something to say about it.

"Want to go practice some forms, to kill some time? We haven't gotten to practice on each other yet, it might be fun, to spar with no rules? After we eat, of course"

Sparring was the last thing Cloud wanted to do, "I think we should just relax to save our energy for the journey to Midgar, we are going to be doing some intense training there, I think." Zack nodded in agreement, but still looked a little disappointed.

Grabbing their trays Cloud and Zack walked along the food line grabbing a little bit of everything. It was obviously a congratulations meal, and Cloud was more then happy to eat it.

"So Cloud," Zack says as they settle in on a bench, "What's wrong?" Zack still had his dumb grin plastered to his face. Cloud shook his head; he had no response to the kid.

Taking a bite out of his apple Cloud finally asks, "Any idea, on what's ahead of us, ya know, training at Shinra Headquarters?" Zack shook his head. It was as big a mystery to Cloud as it was to Zack. It sent butterflies to his stomach; no one knew what type of training that they were going to do. The only thing he could do was wait and find out.

Jumping off his bed not wanting to talk, Cloud grabs a pair of his clothes from his drawer and leaves to take a shower, it was the only day at camp, they won't have to wear their training clothes, and he was going to take full advantage of it.

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Zack was glad Cloud was talking a bit more, he was shocked when Cloud started saying complete sentences. He was just packing up for they were going to leave in a couple hours for Shinra, and begin the real training their, he was all too excited for it. He always wanted to live in a large city, and leave Gongaga, he was too bored in that small village.

Zack walked back to the mess hall and sat next to the other recruits, one of them had smuggled in some booze and everyone was having their fair share of it. This was another reason for joining, partying, Gongaga was much more quiet for this type of fun. He was going to love it in Midgar.

The large land rovers had just pulled in the and everyone was waiting anxiously, the time of training to become a SOLDIER was nigh, and Zack couldn't wait, in one year he would be a SOLDIER, he just new it, he wasn't going to fail, not after getting this far.

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Well there is my chapter, I know, I'm not dead, and this is in fact real, a real update, and you all probably forgot about this. Well if you hadn't, I sure did. :D Physics is making me busy along with many other things, so my next update will probably be just as bad, I would like to make this chapter longer, but I decided not to, oh well, sucks for you guys, who are reading this, you may have to wait for a long time. :(

Here are some questions that I will try to answer in later chaps, what the heck Hojo? What the heck Barrett? What the heck Reno? And Reeve? What is he up to? What the heck will unfold in the future? Those will be questions I will try to answer in later chapters :P I hope you enjoyed it, will this chapter is dedicated to Gackt, an awesome singer, believe it or not, I'm entirely straight!


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